It’s stupid to fall for your brother’s ex. It’s even worse to enlist another’s help to win the ex over. But Brody is desperate and Hayley, his partner in American Sign Language, is more than willing to lend him a few tips.

She’s the school’s matchmaker,’ and with her bizarre and positive personality, Brody finds her easy to talk to, even about the most awkward situations. Hayley’s tips seem to be working, but as Brody learns more about his matchmaker, he starts finding reasons to spend time with her, and not the girl he thought he was in love with.

But Hayley isn’t ready to fall for anyone. Labeled the “Funny Fat Friend” within her group, her self image makes it impossible for Brody to share his feelings without Hayley shrugging it off as a joke.

Convincing her Brody can, and did, fall for the “Funny Fat Friend” turns out to be harder than simply falling in love.

Review

This book is the definition of the word awesomesauce! Don’t know what awesomesauce is you say? Well, then read this book and you’ll find out. 😉

The entire story is told from the point of view of the guy, Brody. That’s not something that I read a lot in the NA/YA genre, and I thought that it was very well done. I don’t think that I’ll be spoiling anything by telling you that this is the story of how Brody falls in love with Hayley (the funny fat friend). That’s the name of the book! The fact that each chapter title is another reason why Brody fell for Hayley set up an environment where I was able to really enjoy every moment of the story. Even when Brody was being an idiot, I knew that in a moment something would happen that caused him to fall even more deeply in love the girl. The story wasn’t about “if” he would fall for her, it was about “how” he fell. And let me tell you, the boy falls HARD!

When the story begins, Brody is obsessed with Quynn, his older brother’s ex-girlfriend. He’s crazy about her, but has no idea how to or even if he should let her know. His brother is a cheating jerk so loyalty to him isn’t the reason for his apprehension. He’ just plain scared to go after Quynn because he’s afraid that she only sees him as a friend, and he doesn’t want to ruin things between them.

Enter his partner in sign language class, Hayley. One day Brody’s car runs out of gas in the rain and he runs into her while she’s walking home from the library. I’m going to give a little quote right now because I can’t do this moment justice.

“Her curvy figure comes into focus as she jogs over. She’s carrying an umbrella and balancing a book on her head, her high ponytail holding it in place. I have to blink a few times to make sure I’m not hallucinating.”

From that moment on, Brody was hooked, and they become great friends almost instantly. The best part for me was that they became friends instantly. The chemistry was there from the minute she signed “balls” to him in sign language class, but that led to him being intrigued by her not falling for her right away. Now, that’s the type of thing that I like read! I’m all about being friends before you fall madly in love because it just makes for a better story. Hayley has Brody’s crush on Quinn all figured out and agrees to help him get the girl because that’s what she’s good at. She’s hooked up all of her other friends so why not help him out too. Along the way, Brody finds out how amazing Hayley is, and the fact that he has no control over how attracted he is to her is so adorable! The book is filled with all these little scenes where he notices the quirky little things that she does, and it’s so cute! I think it’s time for another quote:

“A tiny cringe goes across her face, and then it’s gone. What did I just say? And why does she keep doing that? I couldn’t have imagined it…three times now?

Then it hit’s me.

Shit.

I mean…

‘Sorry, you don’t like it when I swear, do you?’

Her face goes from pink to dark red so fast, you’d think she was on fire from the inside out.

‘Um…’

‘It’s okay. I’ll try not to, if it bothers you.’

‘She looks at me dumbfounded. “Really? You don’t think I’m a major loser for that stuff buggin’ me?’

Loser? Hell–heck–she had standards.

There’s nothing loserish about that.”

Hayley may have a lot of insecurities, but she’s not whiny and she does have standards. For some reason she’s been placed in the category of the “funny fat friend” when in reality she’s just not the thinnest girl in her group of friends. Brody loves her body and as far as I could tell, most guys would love her body too. This is one of the first scenes that they have together, and I think it answers the question of whether or not Brody likes the way Hayley looks:

“She pouts and I have to keep my eyes from wandering down to her chest again.

‘I’m wrong, aren’t I?’ She drops her arms. Good. I can’t really concentrate with cleavage staring me in the face.”

Haley just has the same issue that most women have when they don’t meet and impossible ideal, and her overly critical mother doesn’t help. It takes her forever to just realize that not only does she have a shot with Brody but he actually prefers her to Quinn. It takes a while for this fact to sink in for Brody too, but the author makes it obvious that Quinn is just who he’s used to wanting not who he truly wants to be with.

It takes some time for them both to realize that they feel the same way about each other, but once they do the cuteness abounds! If you like sweet romantic novels with a dash of humor, read this book please?! I’ll be your best friend if you do! 🙂

This book is clean. There’s some very mild sexual content, but the details are minor, and a few profanities.

Five Roses

Author Biography

About Becca Ann

Cassie Mae (AKA Becca Ann) is a nerd to the core from Utah, who likes to write about other nerds who find love. Her angel children and perfect husband fan her and feed her grapes while she clacks away on the keyboard. Then she wakes up from that dream world and manages to get a few words on the computer while the house explodes around her. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with the youth in her community as a volleyball and basketball coach, or searching the house desperately for chocolate.